France’s foreign minister has called the CEO of Spanish airline Vueling to demand an “explanation” after dozens of French teenagers, all Jewish, were removed from a flight this week, Paris said on Saturday.
During an incident on Wednesday, the Spanish airline said it had asked the adolescents to leave the plane in the Spanish city of Valencia due to their “disruptive behaviour”.
But parents condemned what some described as an “antisemitic act”, alleging the teenagers were forced off the plane after one of them had sung a song in Hebrew.
On Friday, Vueling maintained that its decision was made “solely for safety reasons” because the teens were tampering with life jackets and oxygen masks and oxygen cylinders.
READ ALSO: French holiday camp accuses Vueling of discrimination against Jewish teens
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called Vueling CEO Carolina Martinoli the same day “to express his deep concern about the removal of a group of young French Jews from one of the company’s planes,” the foreign ministry said.
“An explanation has been requested, in particular to determine whether these French nationals had been subjected to discrimination on the grounds of their religion,” the foreign ministry said.
“The same request was made to the Spanish ambassador to France,” the foreign ministry added.
“Ms Carolina Martinoli assured him that a thorough internal investigation was underway and that the findings would be shared with the French and Spanish authorities,” the ministry said.
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The travel association responsible for organising the trip said it would file a complaint alleging religious discrimination.
